14.1 Colonial America, the American Revolution & the Constitution

Overview & Exam Relevance

This section continues Competency 002 (History) with the foundations of U.S. history taught in Grade 5:

• why Europeans colonized North America and how the colonies developed;
• the causes and key people of the American Revolution;
• the Declaration of Independence; and
• the change from the Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution.

Expect items that connect colonial geography to economic activity and that ask about causes and effects leading to independence.

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Reasons for European Colonization

Roots of self-government: The Virginia House of Burgesses (1619) was the first elected representative assembly in the English colonies. The Mayflower Compact (1620) and New England town meetings gave colonists experience governing themselves. That experience made British taxation without colonial representation feel like a violation of their rights.

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Foundations of United States History

The elementary social studies curriculum requires an understanding of foundational national eras, documents, and historical turning points:

The 13 British Colonies: Regional Characteristics

Causes of the American Revolution

Following the French and Indian War (1754-1763), Great Britain ended its century-long policy of salutary neglect (hands-off colonial governance) and imposed taxes to pay war debts:

• Proclamation of 1763: Prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, angering frontier settlers.
• Stamp Act (1765): First direct internal tax on printed colonial paper (legal documents, newspapers, playing cards). Colonists organized protests, boycotts, and the Stamp Act Congress under the slogan "No taxation without representation."
• Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770): British troops fired upon a taunting crowd, killing five colonists (including Crispus Attucks); publicized as propaganda by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.
• Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773): Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of British East India Company tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act.
• Intolerable (Coercive) Acts (1774): British Parliament closed Boston Port, suspended local Massachusetts government, instituted military rule under General Gage, and enacted a new Quartering Act.
• Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775): British soldiers marching to seize colonial munitions clashed with Minutemen on Lexington Green ("the shot heard round the world").

The Declaration of Independence (1776)

Adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the Declaration was drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson. Grounded in John Locke's Enlightenment social contract philosophy:

• Proclaims that all human beings are endowed with unalienable rights—rights that cannot be surrendered or taken away—including Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
• Asserts that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.
• Establishes that when a government becomes destructive of these ends, the people possess the fundamental right to alter or abolish it.
• Enumerates 27 specific legal and political grievances against King George III.

From the Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution (1787)

• Articles of Confederation (1781): America's first national constitution. Reflecting deep fear of royal tyranny, it established an intentionally weak unicameral national legislature without an executive or national judicial branch. Fatal weaknesses: Congress lacked power to levy taxes, draft soldiers, or regulate interstate commerce. Shays' Rebellion (1786), an armed uprising of indebted Massachusetts farmers led by Daniel Shays, demonstrated the national government's inability to maintain order, prompting the Constitutional Convention.
• Constitutional Convention (Philadelphia, 1787):
  • The Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise): Resolved disputes between large states (Virginia Plan: proportional representation) and small states (New Jersey Plan: equal representation) by creating a bicameral legislature: the Senate (equal representation: 2 senators per state) and the House of Representatives (proportional representation based on population).
  • Three-Fifths Compromise: Counted three-fifths of enslaved persons for congressional representation and taxation purposes.
  • Ratification & The Bill of Rights (1791): To secure Anti-Federalist support (who feared a powerful central government would crush individual liberties), Federalists pledged to add the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments protecting speech, religion, the press, trial by jury, and state powers).

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Key People of the Revolution and the Founding Era

The Grade 5 TEKS name a diverse set of individuals. Know what each contributed:

The war ended with the British surrender at Yorktown (1781) and the Treaty of Paris (1783), in which Britain recognized American independence.